Every year, She Reads reaches out to readers to discover the books that they thought were the best of the year! This year we had over 8,000 of you cast your vote and the results are in. In our roundups of all the Best Books of 2024, we’ll include the number one book, chosen by you and some favorites from our professional book loving editors. We hope this reading year was as wonderful for you as it was for us!
Best Fantasy & Magical Realism Book of 2024: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune
Arthur and his partner Linus will do anything to protect the six magical orphans living at the Marsyas Island Orphanage, where Authur himself was brought up. Arthur plans to adopt them all, but when his dark past is brought to the forefront and he is summoned to make a public statement about it, he worries the future of his family, and all other magical people, hangs in the balance. Not to mention, a new child is trying to gain entrance to the orphanage, one that takes pride in the word monster, something Arthur never wanted the other children to feel like.
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This past year, audiences have been swept away on wonderful journeys full of magic and amazement. From folktale retellings to stories that are one in a million, some of the best of the best in fantasy and magical realism debuted. And if you missed any of these spell-binding stories, no need to worry. We have collected some of our favorite novels in magical realism and fantasy for you to kick off the new year with or to jump into right now.
The Night Ends With Fire by K.X. Song
Meilin has never known peace. The war between the Three Kingdoms has raged for years and it gets closer to her home every day. After hearing her father make a deal to sell her to fund his opium addiction, she runs away and joins the battle disguised as a man. She quickly makes a name for herself as a strong soldier, but no one knows her secret identity, not even her closest friend and training partner, Prince Sky. As the battles continue throughout the day, Meilin is plagued every night by dreams of a sea dragon promising her true freedom, but this freedom comes at a price.
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The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Luzia is nothing more than a kitchen servant for some of Madrid’s nobility. At least, that is what they think. Secretly, Luzia has the power to gift small miracles. But when the nobility discovers her power, she is swept into the dark and seedy world of magic and fraud at the hands of supposedly honorable men and women. With the Spanish Inquisition looking for people who have committed religious hearsay, Luzia runs the risk of her power and ancestry being discovered by people who would kill her if they knew the truth. She must use all her wits and charm to keep her secret and protect herself, especially while working with Guillén Santángel, whose secrets could ruin them both.
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A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Stay still, stay quiet, and never keep a secret from your mother. Those are the keys to survival for Cordelia as the daughter of an evil sorceress. Her only companion is her mother’s horse, Falada, and she is forced to live in a place where she doesn’t belong. But when her mother up-ends their lives and moves them into the mansion of a wealthy squire and his sister, Cordelia knows her mother is up to something. These are the only people who have ever made Cordelia feel loved, so she must find a way to save them from being her mother’s next victims and stand up against the powerful and dark sorceress that raised her.
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A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
Based on the folktale, Four Beauties of Ancient China, this tells the story of the first of the four women, Xishi. Xishi was known throughout China for her beauty and would certainly be an excellent wife and mother, the most honorable job a woman could hold. But when Fanli, a famous military advisor, asks her to help save her hometown, Yue, and win the war against Wu and the rival king, she takes the opportunity. She trains with Fanli, learning to conceal her emotions, lie with ease, and how to use a myriad of weapons to infiltrate Wu, catch the king’s attention, and keep him distracted long enough to weaken his army and end the war. But the longer she stays with the enemy king, the higher the risk of the truth being revealed, a truth that could bring the end of both kingdoms.
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The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark
It is the Festival of the Clockwork King in the ancient city of Tal Abisi, and Eveen is ready to hit her mark. As a Dead Cat Tail Assassin, a resurrected warrior with no memory of her former life, she is sworn to the Matron of Assassins and lives by three guiding principles; only kill if the contract is just, no one other than the mark should be hurt, and never stray from your mission. But when Eveen comes across a face she was never supposed to remember, her mission becomes much more complicated.
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Witches of El Paso by Luis Jaramillo
Marta is struggling to balance her busy life as a mother, caretaker for her ninety-three-year-old great-aunt Nena, and owner of a legal aid practice. One day, Nena tells Marta of a child she left behind and asks Marta to use her supernatural abilities to help her find the child. Marta comes from a line of witches, including Nena, who, after increasing fainting spells and premonitions as a teenager, traveled back in time to colonial Mexico to nurture her powers under the careful watch of Sister Benedicta. Now the two magical women must work together to find the love lost and reconnect their family for good.
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Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
Emily has successfully cataloged every creature in the faerie world in her encyclopedia, and now she is on to her next challenge, creating a map of the faerie world. While creating the encyclopedia, she fell in love with the exiled faerie king, Bambleby, who is on the run from his murderous mother. Now the two must work together to find the secret magical doors to the faerie world, which sends them on an adventure in the Austrian Alps. With the faerie queen hot on their trail and some awkwardness added to their relationship after Emily refused Bambleby’s proposal, will they be able to work together and find an escape before it’s too late?
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